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Yes! Our district made it a weekend camping program. We had 6 scouts complete the radio merit badge and 4 begin pioneering. We are in NJ and we connected to folks, some scouts, in Maine, Florida, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana,  Canada and Germany. It was open to cubs, scouts and venturers. It was cold, but lots of fun!

IMG_20191020_090425.jpg

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11 minutes ago, karunamom3 said:

Yes! Our district made it a weekend camping program. We had 6 scouts complete the radio merit badge and 4 begin pioneering. We are in NJ and we connected to folks, some scouts, in Maine, Florida, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana,  Canada and Germany. It was open to cubs, scouts and venturers. It was cold, but lots of fun!

IMG_20191020_090425.jpg

I love the picture!

As a Scout, I served as a Den Chief.  The den leader was a big ham radio fan - he had all kinds of equipment.  Every so often he'd break it out and we'd get to hear messages from around the world.  I was a life long memory.  You experience looks so much like that.  Thanks for refreshing a wonderful memory!

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7 hours ago, karunamom3 said:

Yes! Our district made it a weekend camping program. We had 6 scouts complete the radio merit badge and 4 begin pioneering. We are in NJ and we connected to folks, some scouts, in Maine, Florida, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana,  Canada and Germany. It was open to cubs, scouts and venturers. It was cold, but lots of fun!

This is really cool!  I imagine most councils and districts could find a local radio club willing to come out to a scout activity with a load of radios the scouts could use to "talk to the world".  Thanks for sharing!  I loved the picture too!

BTW:  You can find amateur radio clubs in your area here:  http://www.arrl.org/find-a-club 
Might be a handy thing to keep in mind for next fall...

 

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On 10/21/2019 at 11:35 PM, karunamom3 said:

and 4 begin pioneering

Hmmm.  That sounds like a good way to get a free tower.  🙂

We did JOTA at the North Star Scouting Museum in Minnesota, http://www.nssm.org as K0BSA.  The management of the museum has recently undergone some changes, and I think that's why the program didn't get very well publicized this year, so the turnout was very low.  On a positive note, though, we have a permanent antenna at the museum now, which should streamline future JOTA's and other events.

In previous years, I've counseled Radio merit badge.  This year, for a change of pace, I decided to do Signs, Signals, and Codes, instead.  Six scouts completed it, including two girls, the first girls I've signed a blue card for.  They all did very well on both Morse Code and Semaphore.  

73, W0IS

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Doing the JOTA could be a great opportunity to also work on Radio merit badge.

Sounds like that was what was going on last weekend in northeastern Ohio where 3 local radio clubs helped scouts earn their merit badge.  The story doesn't specifically mention JOTA, but it does say the boys communicated with scouts in other states who were "attending a jamboree".  

Sounds like quite the event!

https://www.vindy.com/news/community-news/2019/10/boy-scouts-earn-radio-merit-badges-rapidly/ 

Edited by mrkstvns
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22 hours ago, RememberSchiff said:

I tend to view "reports" with a looming fear of impending boredom caused by figures, charts, and tables full of useless mumbo jumbo.

The report you cited was nothing like that!  It was entertaining and informative, full of real-life stories that showed how to make JOTA participation work in different scenarios.  Useful stuff!

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